UTICA, N.Y. - A New York federal judge has refused to grant Fireman's Fund Insurance Co. a new trial in the wake of an adverse $64 million reinsurance verdict, ruling that a jury could conclude that Utica Mutual Insurance Co. acted reasonably in deciding to enter an underlying $325 million asbestos settlement with Goulds Pumps.

In a Feb. 28 order, Judge David N. Hurd of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York further held that the evidence supported the jury's finding that Utica's late notice of the reinsurance claim did not constitute bad faith, gross negligence, ...